samedi 26 juillet 2014

Experimenting working pigments!

Hi everyone! This quick post will be exclusively in English since I wrote it for myself and shared it Michael Rinaldi. Pigments are hard to use for me, but fortunately practicing pays!

I.Yesterday’s
attempts

These two
pictures are yesterday’s first try at using pigments. I carefully brushed them
and I somehow liked the effect near the cupola, although the pigments were a
bit too big on the edge of the opening.

On the
second picture, there were massive pigments added and then brushed around the
details. I left them quite compact and misted some X-20A. Of course the result
is massive pigments with no background pigments underneath. It looks like
chunks of dust deposited like very small stones and doesn’t look realistic at
all.

Both tries
were irrelevant. It is starting to look the part near the episcope, but I think
I just brushed these pigments today (you can see one very strong brush stroke)
after another failed attempt, yesterday.

II.Today’s attempts

Near the
welding line was a sponge attempt. I diluted pigments in water. It looks awful.
It may be interesting in adding splashes, but I will forget this idea.

Around the
opening was today’s try. The pigments were applied in one go and I brushed them
carefully to reach the opening. Still, there are some visible brush strokes
that are unwanted. Either this may result in some bigger pigments being crushed
into the surface and leaving a line, or the brush stroke that was too strong on
the surface, but I was really careful. Would
another round of pigment have softened the result? Maybe but if I want just
that small amount of pigments, then I’m stuck.

III.Starting to look the part?

On this
one, pigments were applied very softly with just a few pigments at a time and
in 2 layers. The result is softer, I think the pigments have blended just
enough. There was then an attempt at adding some Green Enamel on it. It looks
fine on the picture but I think it still has some hard edges. I did this quite
simply. I added some Slimy Dark Green that I diluted a lot and removed the
excess on a paper towel. Then I touched the surface and watched it flow. I used
my hairdryer to dry the thinner quickly to avoid tidemarks.

More dust
here. I was afraid it would really bleach the surface and it did in some
aspects. The base color is nearly invisible underneath. My question is “Is it believable? Does it look natural
enough?” There were 3 rounds of pigments on this. I started from nearly the
half of the surface and moved towards the edges trying just to push the
pigments. I tried softening the edges by places but the pigments hold really
toughly on the surface.

I also
applied some Slimy Dark Green, and here the edge look harder. This question has
still to be solved. It also happens with mud. Whenever I apply pigments on the
lower hull and add some enamel effects on them with a brush, the thinner would
flow and once it’s dried the edges are hard and not realistic. Is it a matter
of dilution or a problem in the application process?

Right near
the gun, under the welding line, the pigments were applied yesterday in one
round. It looks like small rocks and there are barely any pigments underneath.
I didn’t dare touching this with my brush, for I was quite sure they would
leave marks on the surface.

Near the
hook on the right hand side was a sponge application.

IV.Previous attempts

Everything
was tried today.

On this
olive drab piece of styrene, I used 2 batches of pigments on the bottom right
corner and the top left corner. The top left has around 4 to 6 pigment
application. The colors underneath is not visible anymore, whereas the right
one is visible in some places. For the latter, I worked my way from the center
to the corner carefully pushing the pigments and fixing them when I reached the
edges. Then I added some more pigments in the center that I pushed in part
(some remained at the center) to the flat edge. The olive drab is still visible
(partly) and was the result of 3 applications of pigments.

The bottom
left corner and the very small right flat edge were just one pigment (the brightest)
use with 2 or 3 applications.

Now the
question is “for the 4 to 6 rounds of
pigments. Is it too much?” If I want to have some transparency then I’m
obviously going wrong. Still, there were many pigments in the top left corner,
so that would explain it all. But is it really possible to get transparency
when going through that many rounds?

On this
Dark Yellow Primer, I am quite happy with the result
on the right hand. I guess I used mid tones and light tones going from dark to
bright (bright on top). It has a grainy finish that I like and this is what
decided me to start operating on my model. It has some transparency and there
is a gradation of colors that seems to be ok. The pigments are not chunky.

Still I did
the exact same thing using only bright tones on the left and although it looks
quite transparent some chunks remained, which doesn’t look too realistic.

V.Conclusion

Thus I am
still wondering and experimenting on the techniques of pigment application.
Being more satisfied with the very last piece of styrene, I think I am heading
to the right direction.

However the
notion of layering is still quite hard to apply on such small surface of
application and the base color may suffer from the repeated application of
pigments, considering my level. Even if I try adding very little pigments at a
time, I find it hard to keep the right look.

Still, I
feel comforted in the idea that adding pigments over pigments is not destroying
the previous layer and adds in realism, as far as my limits are for now.

OPR and
pigments is another subject that I should train on, avoiding tidemarks and hard
edges. I barely touch the surface to unload the paint and not remove the
pigments making them muddy, but the result is these hard edges and sometimes
some tidemark when it comes to working on mud surfaces.

Another thing pointed out by Mike was the fact that the surface is really grainy. This happens when working with modulation. The angle taken by the airbrush makes the paint hit the surface in various ways. Sometimes it gets smooth when close enough and sometimes the paint dries before hitting the surface making it grainy...

FINALLY !!!

On this T-34 1/48th,

After many attempts, I really worked my way very slowly and added pigments little by little pushing them soflty and got to these results. The combination of HS, OPR and Pigments seems to work very well and I am very thankful to Michael Rinaldi for his long-time support and patience. Still, this has to be improved!